Obviously we don’t know the full details of the ratings, but the fact that Stralman is considered to be the same rating as Bickel is a bit intriguing. Stralman was counted on for big minutes in the playoffs, and Bickel was exploited for his weaknesses and spent much of his playoff time on the bench. That’s not a slight against Bickel, but it’s just the facts from the playoffs.

From NHL ’12, we saw that there were three categories for players: offense, defense, and athleticism. Obviously, Stralman has Bickel beat in all three of these categories, and it should reflect in the games detailed ratings. However there were ratings for toughness, fighting, and aggression that Bickel would obviously have Stralman beat by a mile. Perhaps those are the ratings that boost Bickel up to Stralman’s level.

For those focused on Kreider’s 68 rating, let’s remember that Kreider has very little NHL experience, and that while he’s a top prospect, you would have to assume they are taking lack of experience into account. I’m going to venture a guess and say that Kreider’s potential is off the charts, and that 68 will turn into mid-80s in no time.

It’s also worth noting that there appears to be a much bigger gap between the elite players and the third line players. In past games, you could compile a bottom-six of players with an 80 rating or higher. That doesn’t appear to be the case anymore, as the third line players –including Brian Boyle– are in the mid-high 70s. Fourth line players like Arron Asham are even lower.

The ratings gap is a nice touch, and something that was sorely missing from the previous games. It’ll be interesting to see how the gameplay is.

These ratings are ridiculous. Nash, Gabby, and Richards should all be in the 90’s, they are some of the best players to ever play in this league. 87 is a joke. Callahan should be an 89. I also think Hagelin should be higher. I guess we need to see how all of the other players in the game are ranked to see what they were really doing here.

I like the tougher ratings. The difference of playing with gaborik to Boyle in the game wasn’t as noticble as should be. Back playing nhl2k7 part of what was I found great was a huge difference playing as jagr as compared to any other player.

I guess they were going for a contemporary player ratings versus every other player ever. Like Nash at 87 is comparable to what Gretzky would’ve been at say 98 or some bull. Like Nash can’t be a 96 because The Great One is waaaaaaay better but not according to his player rating. I don’t know.